title: Being an adolescent with a cochlear implant in the world of hearing people: coping in school, in society and with self identity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The cochlear implant has revolutionized functioning with severe-to-profound sensori-neural loss. A deaf child implanted at an early age with good habilitation may have good language abilities and function well in daily life. As the implanted child grows up, managing in the world of hearing people may become more complex. During adolescence, the teenager copes with many issues, including identity, socialization with the peer group, and managing in the school setting. These issues may be even more challenging for the adolescents using a cochlear implant. This study was designed to shed light on how adolescents with cochlear implants experience coping with the issues mentioned.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve teenagers (14-18 years old), fairly similar to the entire adolescent implanted population at the center at which the study was conducted, participated in the study. They had been unilaterally or bilaterally implanted at differing ages. The participants filled out a questionnaire dealing with their functioning in the educational setting, their social preferences and functioning, and their identity as hearing or deaf. The results were analyzed using the principles of thematic analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At school, some reported better achievements than others but they all expressed some difficulty functioning in class mainly in situations involving several speakers. From a social point of view, some reported a preference for association with normal hearing peers, whereas others favored hard-of-hearing friends, and one had no preference. Of those who touched on the topic of self-identity, one referred to herself as deaf, eight defined themselves as hard-of-hearing, and two consider themselves hearing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From the responses of these teenagers, it is clear that adolescents with cochlear implants are a heterogeneous group. Parents and teachers should be aware that adolescents with implants, even when successful academically, may experience difficulties in the classroom setting. Most of the participants in this study learning in a mainstream setting, preferred social relationships with hearing peers (to hard of hearing/deaf). The responses of these adolescents with cochlear implants support the conjecture that they have both a hearing identity and a deaf identity, which may be expressed at varying intensities depending on the situation at the time.
authors.affiliation: Speech and Hearing Center, Hebrew University School of Medicine - Hadassah Medical Center, POB 12000, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
authors.forename: Shanit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levinger
authors.forename: Shirli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Cahtia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Adelman
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000523:psychology; D003054:Cochlear Implants / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D060345:Education of Persons with Hearing Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification
keywords: Adolescence; Cochlear implant; Educational functioning; Hearing–deaf identity; Social functioning